What is God’s Story Project?
If you have been a follower of Jesus for a while, you are probably familiar with the idea of the Bible as God’s Story. From beginning to end, it shows us who God is and reveals his amazing story to redeem his creation. But have you ever thought of our lives as God’s story? Before Jesus ascended to glory, he commissioned his disciples to carry on his work on this earth. “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” As each of us is adopted into His kingdom, we enter into God’s ongoing work, and our lives are part of His enduring story. He teaches us, he uses us, and his redemptive work in this world is continued through us.
Our lives are much like the story of Ester in the Bible. While other books give us that behind the scenes view, Ester only lets us see the here and now, earthly view. Other books tell us God hardened or softened the heart of kings, He threw armies into confusion, a man was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him. But in real life, there is no narrator. We are forced to use the eye of faith and our knowledge of God to see him at work. In our lives we don’t get to see the wind. We only get to see the leaves blowing west.
Of course, our stories are not inspired cannon, but they serve many of the same purposes. Our stories encourage others, and increase their faith. They also bring praise and glory to our worthy and mighty Father. When I hear that God showed up in your life in a certain way, it helps me (and all of us Doubting Thomases) to believe we really can see God show up that way in our lives today, just as he did thousands of years ago in the Bible. As Paul tells us, God’s power is perfected in weakness, therefore we will gladly boast about our weakness so that God’s power may be seen is us. So let us share our stories of our weakness, our failures and our pain, and how God has showed up in our lives that we might encourage, uplift and build the faith of others.